Faces of the scl norm ball
Abstract
Let F be the fundamental group of S, where S is a compact, connected, oriented surface with negative Euler characteristic and nonempty boundary. (1) The projective class of the chain ∂ S in B1(F) intersects the interior of a codimension one face of the unit ball in the stable commutator length pseudo-norm. (2) The unique homogeneous quasimorphism on F dual to this face (up to scale and elements of H1) is the rotation quasimorphism associated to the action of F on the ideal boundary of the hyperbolic plane, coming from a hyperbolic structure on S. These facts follow from the fact that every homologically trivial 1-chain in S rationally cobounds an immersed surface with a sufficiently large multiple of the boundary. This is true even if S has no boundary.